People who take even a very low dose of aspirin every day for five years can cut the risk of developing colon cancer by almost a third, a study said.
Taking as little as 75 milligrams of aspirin a day -- less than the standard dosing of so-called baby aspirin -- lowered the risk of colon cancer by 22 percent after just a year, according to research published today by the medical journal Gut. The reduction in risk increased with extended use, rising to 30 percent after five years, the study found
Doctors already know that aspirin and related painkillers can protect the colon. This study showed for the first time that a low dose of aspirin is sufficient to ward off cancer, and that the drug needs to be taken for at least five years to get the full benefit. Low-dose baby aspirin, made by Bayer AG, is available in an 81-milligram dose in the U.S., according to Drugstore.com. The study defined daily intake as consumption of pills at least four days a week for at least a month.
“Our results are applicable to the general population and not just high-risk groups,” the authors, led by Malcolm Dunlap, a scientist at the University of Edinburgh, said in the paper.
The study analyzed data from 2,279 patients with bowel cancer and 2,907 healthy people as part of the Study of Colorectal Cancer in Scotland.
The study found that patients taking drugs belonging to a class of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDS, also had a lower risk of developing the disease. The class of medicines includes ibuprofen and naproxen, both of which are available without a prescription.
The study was funded in part by a grant from Cancer Research U.K.
To contact the reporter on this story: Eva von Schaper in Munich atevonschaper@bloomberg.net.
